US President Barack Obama
Photo: AP
Report: White House wants Congress sanctions proposal eased
LA Times reports US administration working to ease proposal by Congress calling for sanctions on Iranian banks, American energy firms supplying Tehran following approval of fourth round of UN sanctions
The US administration, which for months worked for UN approval of new sanctions on Iran, is now pushing against crushing sanctions backed by Congress, the LA Times reported Friday.
The report says administration officials have met with congressmen in an attempt at easing a proposal to be put before the Senate and the House of Representatives, which calls for sanctions to extend to any company selling refined fuel to Iran.
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In contrast to the UN resolution passed by the Security Council, the bill drafted by Congress deals only with US policy, firms, and government agencies. The EU is also reportedly considering a similar move aimed at increasing the sanctions imposed by the UN.
Meanwhile Iran continues to scoff at the West's disapproval of its nuclear program. The head of its Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Saturday Tehran would unveil a new advance in the program in the coming months.
"In the next few months Iran will announce a new nuclear achievement in connection to the production of fuel for its Tehran research reactor," Salehi was quoted as saying in the Resalat daily. He gave no details.
On Thursday Congress announced it would seek additional sanctions on the Islamic Republic's energy firms and banks, which Russia and China refused to introduce into the resolution passed by the UN Wednesday.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and Howard Berman, the California Democrat who heads the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, announced they were combining legislations on more sanctions while the Treasury Department worked on punishing Iran financially.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also said the US does not intend to settle for the resolution passed by the Security Council, adding that a nuclear Iran was "unacceptable".
